I recently went on my semi-annual visit to the midwest for, among other things, a visit with my grandparents.

We also went up into Wisconsin on a cheese and apple buying trip. Here's what I saw at my favorite cheese shop:

After that, I started noticing something. They say Texas is home to big things (big asses if someone in Washington is any example) but I have to say, I saw some exceptionally large things in Wisconsin. This is a small sample. Enjoy.

On the off chance I have some influence over even one California voter, I have three things to say:

Please vote! It's important that you participate in our admittedly ridiculous-seeming-at-the-moment democracy.

Please vote NO on the recall. If Governor Davis gets recalled it means one man with enough money to collect enough votes to start this process has power over who governs our state. Not to mention the 400,000 new registered voters (which is great on some level) now have the power to recall someone they didn't vote for in the first place.

And PLEASE for the love of all that is right and good in the world, PLEASE DON'T vote for ARNOLD! I went to see Pumping Iron, the documentary he was in in the 70's about bodybuilding, last night at a local movie theater. I know it was made almost 30 years ago, but the Arnold I saw there is the Arnold I see now--he just doesn't play up those qualities in front of the voting public.

He admitted to giving people who trust him bad advice so he can beat them. He admitted to manipulating other bodybuilders to make them believe they can't win. We watched him screwing with other peoples' lives to undermine them. He smiled broadly as he told the story about telling his mother he wouldn't come to his father's funeral because he had a competition in 2 months and he wouldn't allow himself to feel anything, he just "goes cold." It was the smile that chilled me--he seemed proud.

Throughout the movie he showed himself to be incredibly vain, cocky, uncaring, manipulative, self-obsessed, and, well, kind of evil. I know people change, but I've seen no evidence of that in him...except he's not as pumped up now. Which, frankly, was a little grotesque.

Regardless of his past (in which he's admitted to group sex and drug use), regardless of the recent allegations about groping--I heard it was up to 15--women (he tweaked an interviewer's nipple! he reached under a secretary's skirt and grabbed her ass!) as recently as 2000, regardless of his possible admiration of Hitler (which he denies, but in Pumping Iron he says how he admires dictators, so it's a small leap)...

HE HAS NO POLICY! HE HAS NO EXPERIENCE! HE'S JUST A MOVIE STAR! You might as well vote for Gary Coleman. I watched the debate, and Arnold had no solutions, only vague ideas for what should be done, no plans for how to get things done. "I will fight for..." fill in the blank. That's all he had to say. This man will take us into further ruin and make us the laughing stock of the world. Please don't do this to us. Please don't vote for this man. I beg of you.